State Supreme Court justice to face corruption charges

PITTSBURGH (AP) — State Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin will face charges that she misused her state-funded staff as political campaign tools, prosecutors said Friday.

The Allegheny County district attorney's office said Melvin will face nine criminal counts, including theft of services and conspiracy to tamper with evidence in connection with allegations she used her taxpayer-funded staff to perform campaign work.

Melvin was expected to turn herself in Friday afternoon and appear before a Pittsburgh magistrate. A phone message left for her attorney wasn't immediately returned.

Melvin's sister, state Senator Jane Orie, was convicted in March of 14 similar criminal counts, including five felonies, for illegal electioneering on the part of her staff.

A third sister, Janine Orie, faces charges in connection with each sister. Now suspended from her job as an aide to Melvin, Janine Orie is charged with directing the taxpayer-funded staffs of both sisters to perform campaign work.

Melvin started her judicial career as a municipal judge in 1985, four years after getting her law degree. She was elected to a 10-year term on the high court that runs through 2019.

Jane and Janine Orie initially went on trial together early last year, but their cases were split after the judge overseeing the case declared a mistrial and determined that documents submitted by the defense were obvious forgeries.

Sen. Orie is scheduled to be sentenced next month. Her attorney said in court filings she would resign before that.

The grand jury presentment against Janine Orie suggested that Melvin was aware of the campaign work and even directed some of it.

A spokesman for the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts didn't immediately comment on the charges, but the office said it would be only the second time a sitting justice has faced criminal charges.

The investigation into the sisters began in 2009 when an intern in Sen. Orie's office complained to the district attorney's office that she'd seen the lawmaker's staff doing campaign work for Melvin just days before she was elected to the high court.